Ruling – Ability

“Sacrifice: Sacrificed characters are moved from the Field Zone to the Used Pile (often as a cost or penalty).”

When you use this action die, you must sacrifice a character die as part of the cost to using the die. If you can’t sacrifice a character die, you can’t use the action die because you wouldn’t be able to pay the cost to use it. You can’t redirect the cost to a different character die.

When you use this die, you sacrifice a character die, then you draw two dice from your bag and roll them. Those dice are then placed into your Reserve Pool. Dice drawn from this ability are not considered to be drawn during your Roll and Reroll Step, even if you use this action die directly after your Roll and Reroll Step. You do not get to reroll the dice rolled from this ability. Dice are used normally after they’re placed in the Reserve Pool.

If you cannot draw two dice for this ability, you draw as many as you can, then refill your bag and finish drawing until you have drawn two dice.

An ability like Back for More would not trigger if the dice you roll from this ability have the Keyword. The dice drawn and rolled from this ability never enter the Prep Area.

If you have more than one die of the same character in the Field Zone, you do not have to sacrifice all copies of that character. You only need to sacrifice one character die.

When you sacrifice a character die, that die will go to the Used Pile instead of the Prep Area. Sacrificed character dice are not considered to be KO’d and will not trigger When KO’d abilities. If you sacrifice a character die during your turn, that die will go Out of Play first, then to Used Pile during the Clean Up Step.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Spidey’s Last Stand is a Basic Action Card.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ It says Use: 3 instead of Max: 3 because you are required to use exactly three Basic Action Dice for this card.
~ This card is an Common and is #31 of 142.

Opinion

Well, this card is not terrible, but it’s not good either. I featured it because I’ve seen and heard lots of players asking how the Sacrifice ability works. I had a message about this specific card as well because it says character and not character die. This is one of those older cards with wonky wording is all. No, you don’t have to blow up all five of your Sidekick dice in the Field Zone, just to draw and roll two dice. I say it’s not a good card only because it’s not good for meta play – and it’ll be rotating soon too.

The reason that I say this isn’t a terrible card is because it’s a useful card for a more casual setting or a limited format. I wish it only cost two to buy though. I think I would actually use this card a lot if it only cost two. It’s easy to get a few Sidekicks in the Field that you can use as fodder for this card. And you’re opponent is less likely to buy this die. This card may not see competitive play, but there are plenty of casual options and fun options!

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Create Food and Water: Basic Action Card from the Dungeons and Dragons: Tomb of Annihilation set.

Ruling – Ability

“Draw dice from your bag until you draw a non-NPC die or your bag is empty. Prep all dice drawn this way.”

The die for this card is a basic action die. Any card that references an action die could affect this die. When you use this die, it goes Out of Play until the Clean Up Step.

This card makes a reference to ‘non-NPC’ dice. NPC is the term that Dungeons and Dragons cards use for Sidekicks. Non-NPC die means non-Sidekick die.

The ability says that you draw dice until one of two different conditions are met. If the one or both of the conditions are met prior to drawing the first die, you will not be able to use the die because it will not have an effect. For example, if you want to use this die and your bag is already empty, you can’t use it.

If you use this die and begin drawing dice, you will continue to draw dice until you draw a die that’s not a Sidekick, or until your bag is empty, whichever occurs first. If you have five Sidekick dice in your bag when you use this die, you will end up drawing all five of those dice and you will not refill your bag to continue drawing. The dice you draw will go to the Prep Area.

Ruling – Global Ability

“Global: Pay 1. Once per turn, draw a die from your bag. Return it to your bag or add it to your Used Pile.”

Pay 1 means that you can pay one of any type of energy. You may only use this Global once per turn. You can use it once on your turn and once on your opponent’s turn because the Global does not say it can only be used on your turn.

When you pay for the ability, you draw one die from your bag. After you draw the die, you can decide if you want to return it to your bag or add it to your Used Pile.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Create Food and Water is a basic action card with no energy type.
~ It has no affiliation.
~ You must use three dice, which is why it says Use and not Max.
~ This card is an Common and is #4 of 136.

Official Sources

Opinion

So, I’m still not completely sure how I feel about this card. The Global helps prevent a dead roll on the action die, and it’s also useful in that it can be used on your turn as well as your opponent’s turn. But I’m scared to use this card for the same reason I’m scared of using Reclaim – my opponent could steal them and benefit from them too.

I think this die could be beneficial for churn and ramp, but only if you play a team that doesn’t rely on cycling non-Sidekicks a lot. Using this die and then drawing another action or character die just kills the momentum of it. I believe it will see lots of casual play and very possibly some competitive play as well.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

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Ruling – Attune Ability

“Attune: While a character you control with Attune is active, when you use an action die, that character deals 1 damage to target player or character die (no matter how many of that character’s dice are active).”

Attune is a While Active ability. A While Active ability is one that works regardless of how many of the character’s dice are in the Field Zone. While Active abilities are like a light – it’s either on, or it’s off.

Attune triggers when you use any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die. Using a Continuous type action die requires you to place the die in the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool. If you activate a Continuous die’s ability from the Field Zone, this is not considered using it. For example, activating a Captain Cold’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm” after it’s in the Field Zone is not considered to be the same as using it. Using it would be placing the Cold Gun die into the Field Zone from the Reserve Pool.

While a character die with Attune is active, when you use an action die, the character die with Attune will deal one damage to a target character die or player. For example, if you have three Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone when you use an action die, your Yuan-ti Pureblood will deal only one damage total (not three damage) to a target character die or player.

Attune abilities are mandatory and not optional. When you have an active character with Attune and you use an action die, you must deal one damage to target player or character die, even if you would be forced to target one of your character dice or yourself.

Ruling – Ability

“While Yuan-ti Pureblood is active, when you purchase an action die, trigger the Attune ability of all active character dice.”

Yuan-ti Pureblood’s ability is a While Active ability. While you have at least one Yuan-ti Pureblood die in the Field Zone, you will trigger her ability when you purchase an action die. Her ability triggers when you purchase any kind of action die, whether it’s a basic action die or a non-basic action die.

When you purchase an action die while you have an active Yuan-ti Pureblood character die, you will trigger each character die’s Attune ability. Attune abilities will only trigger once for each character, regardless of how many of that character’s dice are in the Field Zone, because Attune is a While Active ability.

For example, if you have three Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone, and purchase an action die, you will trigger the Attune ability of your Yuan-ti Pureblood. You will deal one damage (not three damage) to target player or character die. This is because all three dice are from the same character – your Yuan-ti Pureblood. Her Attune ability can only be triggered once, per instance, while there are any of her dice active in the Field Zone. If you were to purchase another action die, you would trigger her Attune ability a second time and deal one damage again.

This ability will also trigger the Attune ability on your opponent’s character dice. If your opponent has the same Yuan-ti Pureblood dice in the Field Zone, you still trigger her Attune ability as well as yours, because the two character cards are considered to be different characters. One is your Yuan-ti Pureblood, and the other is your opponent’s Yuan-ti Pureblood, making them different characters for game effects such as this ability.

If you trigger an opponent’s Attune ability, you do not get to choose the target of that ability because you are not in control of the ability. Triggering an ability is not the same as controlling or using the ability.

Yuan-ti Pureblood’s ability is mandatory. If you purchase an action die while she’s active, you must trigger the Attune abilities on all active character dice with Attune.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Yuan-ti Pureblood is a Bolt type character card.
~ She has the Monster affiliation and the Evil alignment.
~ She has a max dice of four.
~ This card is an Super Rare and is #132 of 136.

Official Sources

You can find the cross IP compatibility wording, here.
You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Strategy and Opinion

Yuan-ti Pureblood is great for action centered teams, but if your opponent is using characters with Attune, her ability could become a nuisance for you. Her ability is still great and definitely worth trying out. She only cost two energy to purchase, but she can be blasted out of the Field Zone very easily. She’s got a defense of one on level one and level two, making her an easy target for Unstable Canister‘s Global. Her level three side is slightly safer with a defense of three, but she still falls victim to uncommon and rare Cold Guns.

I think she’ll be fun in casual play with the Satchel teams I’ve seen floating around, and she might even have a place in the major competitive meta, even though she could be troublesome against a similar team. I’m not sure I’d recommend using her as a main win condition in a draft, only because there are plenty of other characters out there with Attune and her ability could cost you in the end. But at the same time, because she’s so inexpensive, she could allow you to race your opponent to victory!

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

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Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at The Question: Find the Answers from the DC Batman set.

Ruling – Gadgeteer Keyword

From the WizKids Keywords page:

Gadgeteer: When a character die with Gadgeteer attacks, you may roll a gear die or an action die with the Continuous keyword in your Used Pile. If you roll a non-energy face, you may move it unto your Field Zone. Otherwise, return it to your Used Pile.

I think there is a typo in on the WizKids Keywords page. Where it says ‘you may move it unto your Field Zone’, I think it’s supposed to say into and not unto. But I’m certain we all know what they mean.

Gadgeteer is a new Keyword in the Batman set. This ability only works when the character with Gadgeteer attacks and only if you have a Gear or Continuous action die in your Used Pile. Gear dice will have the Equip Keyword on their card.

You cannot use the Gadgeteer ability for a non-Continuous action die.

When your Gadgeteer character attacks, you get to choose a qualifying action die from your Used Pile and roll it. It can be a Basic Action die or a Non-Basic Action die, so long as it’s Gear or has the Continuous keyword.

After you roll the action die, if it shows an Action face (non-energy face), you get to move it into your Field Zone. Moving a die is not the same as using it, much like moving a character die is not the same as fielding it. If it shows an energy face, you must return it to the Used Pile. The image below shows where you can find the different faces on the Die Face Reference part of the card.

This ability is optional and not mandatory because it uses ‘may’ in the text. If your Gadgeteer character attacks and you have a Continuous die in your Used Pile, you are not required to use the Gadgeteer ability. If you forget to use it and the Attack Step has moved into the Assign Blockers portion, you have missed your opportunity to use Gadgeteer.

Ruling – Ability

The Question’s other ability works like a While Active ability even though it doesn’t say While Active. A While Active ability is one that works regardless of how many of the character’s dice are in the Field Zone. While Active abilities are like a light – it’s either on, or it’s off.

Whenever you use an action die, The Question gains +1A and +1D until the end of the turn. You can use multiple action dice on the same turn and his ability will trigger for each one.

What is considered ‘using’ an Action Die?
~ When you have a non-Continuous action die showing an action face in your Reserve Pool and you use it for it’s effect, moving it Out of Play, that is considered using it.
~ When you have a Continuous action die showing an action face in your Reserve Pool, using it means putting it into the Field Zone. When you activate a Continuous action die for it’s effect, that is not the same as using the action die because the die was used by fielding it.
~ Abilities that say ‘use an action die’ or ‘use the effect of an action die’ are all considered to be using an action die.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ The Question is a Mask type character card.
~ He has the Justice League affiliation.
~ He has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Uncommon and is #75 of 124.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Gadgeteer and Using Action Dice.

Game State~ I have one level three Question (2A/4D) die in the Field Zone. I also have two Kryptonite: Green Death dice, one Unstable Canister die, and one Captain Cold’s Cold Gun: Frozen “Firearm” die, all showing action faces, in my Reserve Pool.
~ My opponent has two Sidekick die in the Field Zone.
~ It is currently during my Main Step.(Main Step)~ I use one of my Kryptonite dice, moving it Out of Play, and target one of my opponent’s Sidekick dice. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D.
~ I use my other Kryptonite die, moving it Out of Play, and target my opponent’s Sidekick die again. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D, which brings his total to +2A and +2D.
~ I use my Unstable Canister die, moving it Out of Play, and target that same Sidekick die which KO’s it. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D, which brings his total to +3A and +3D.
~ I use my Cold Gun die, moving it to the Field Zone. The Question’s ability triggers and he gains +1A and +1D, which brings his total to +4A and +4D.
~ I activate my Cold Gun die, moving it Out of Play, to target my opponent’s second Sidekick die which KO’s it. This does not trigger Question’s ability.(Attack Step – Assign Attackers)
~ I assign my Question (6A/8D) to attack, moving him to the Attack Zone.
~ The Question’s Gadgeteer ability triggers when he attacks and I check my Used Pile for Continuous action dice. I have one Turtle Van and one Bat-Signal die in my Used Pile and I choose the Turtle Van Basic Action and roll it. It lands on an Action face and I move it into my Field Zone.(Attack Step – Assign Blockers)
~ My opponent does not have any blockers to assign.(Attack Step – Actions and Globals)~ I do not use any Action Dice or Globals.
~ My opponent does not use any Globals.(Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage)
~ The Question assigns all six of his attack to my opponent and my opponent loses six life. The Question die is immediately moved Out of Play because he attacked and was not blocked.(Clean Up Step)
~ Character dice that were KO’d by combat damage during the Attack Step are now placed in the Prep Area.
~ Characters blocked, but not KO’d are removed from the Attack Zone, but stay in the Field Zone. The Attack Zone is part of the Field Zone, but only attacking and blocking characters can be in the Attack Zone.
~ All effects end unless otherwise specified (like a While Active or ‘End of Turn’ ability). The Question will lose all of the +1A and +1D bonuses he gained this turn.
~ All damage is cleared.
~ End of turn abilities will resolve.
~ My turn is now over and my opponent’s turn will begin.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF)
You can find a relevant ruling about similar text for using an action die, here.
You can find a relevant ruling about Continuous actions and abilities, here.
You can find a relevant ruling about While Active text being missing from the card, here.

Basic Information

Opinion and Strategy

I like this version of Question better than the other two versions. It’s easy to build up lots of action dice for a single turn with Boomerang or even Scarlet Witch: Hex Bolts from the Doctor Strange Team Pack. Since I love Overcrush so much, using Proton Cannon just makes sense, because his stats can become massive! I love that he has Gadgeteer too, which can help you get your Continuous action die back in play. He’s got a great purchase cost and while his attack stats are not the best, his stats can get a boost and even be swapped with Kal-L’s Global. I think this card is great for casual play and possibly good for a rogue team in Modern Age competitive play too.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

I did a live stream on my Facebook page of my draft picks. You can find the video, here.

My Team

I started with what I thought was solid strategy, but ended up having to change it after seeing the spread of dice on the table. I never intended to draft any Parademon cards, but I opened a total of three! I got the uncommon in the first pile of packs and two commons in the second pile. I knew I could guarantee myself two Parademon dice and I didn’t want to let someone else grab them.

I really wanted to try the common Batgirl. I thought she might be decent for a draft, but I forgot all about grabbing another Batman Family character. I waited way too late in the draft picks to start grabbing Ace cards, leaving me with fewer dice than I liked. I’m glad I got at least two dice for Ace because I didn’t want to rely on the Trusted Friend Global to make Batman Family characters.

I really wanted to get more Red Hood dice, but there were only three total. I couldn’t let him get slide by me because someone would certainly take him. Even if I wasn’t going to use him, I didn’t want him used against me – especially if the other Red Hood cards weren’t commons. There was only one Rip Hunter in our five person pod, so when I saw the opportunity to take him, I did. Hawk, Firefly, and Two-Face’s Coin were all picked because I wanted to try them or I didn’t want someone else to have too many of those dice.

I only used Rip Hunter’s ability twice in the entire event, but I like him for drafts. He’s a great way to speed up a team – you just need to buy him and use him. I never bought him in my first match, forgot about his ability almost every turn in my second match, and never fielded him in my third match. I only used Firefly and Two-Face’s coin one time each and only bought them in my second match.

For my Basic Action Cards, I chose Cloudkill and Haymaker. I knew I would need a way to help my Batgirl and Ace dice get past any defenses my opponent had and the Haymaker Global would help boost their attacks.

Round One

In my first match, Batgirl and Ace were definitely my MVPs. I was a little worried when I saw Catwoman (Common), Batgirl (Common), and Nightwing (Rare) all on the same team across the table from me. That’s a ton of cheap characters with mostly decent stats for a draft. I purchased both Ace dice and all three of my Batgirl dice in hopes of racing my opponent. I purchased a Cloudkill as well to help my chances of getting those characters through. Parademon actually came in handy a few times, giving me that one extra die a few times. My opponent would blast him out of the Field when she had a chance to keep me from getting the full benefit from him.

Round Two

My opponent was using the common Rip Hunter with Unstable Canister, in hopes of taking his opponents out with direct damage. If he had rolled his Canisters on Action faces every time he rolled them, I would have lost the match really, really fast. I got extremely lucky in that he only rolled them a third of the time.

Hawk helped me win my second match before he burned me down. His seven attack on level three with the addition of attack boosters is just nasty when your opponent can’t block. Hawk softened up my opponent and then I went in for lethal damage with a field of Batgirl and Ace dice.

Round Three

In round three, I lost rather quickly to the uncommon Hawkgirl (spins up a level when a Sidekick attacks) and common Ace the Bat Hound (Ally) combo. My opponent used the Globals on his Invulnerability and Anger Issues to increase their attack stats and deal lots of damage, rather quickly. I made the mistake of going for Rip Hunter first when I should have been going for Batgirl and my Ace. I didn’t have time to fix it before he got lethal damage in.

Final Thoughts

I ended the night with a record of 2-1-0, which is not bad at all. My Strength of Schedule (SOS), or tiebreakers as they’re often called, boosted me to second place. My only loss was to Joey, who took first place. His Hawkgirl and Ace combo was just too fast to deal with!

While I was drafting, I was looking at the cards and trying to decide if I wanted a card to use it, or wanted it so someone else couldn’t use it against me. This set is a really good draft set. It forces players to make difficult decisions on the fly, without having all the information they want.

“Do I take this character with beefy stats, or do I take the character with weaker stats but decent ability and try to build off of it?”

“This card has a really good ability but doesn’t go with my current strategy. Do I pass it to someone else that can potentially use it against me, or do I take it just so they can’t?”

“I don’t see anymore cards for my current strategy and we’re almost done with the first pack. Can I afford to swap to something else?”

“I really want this rare/foil for my set, but I think I could use this common that I already have ten of. Which do I take?”

In the gravity feed that Mr. DDK and I opened, we actually pulled a foil rare Big Barda. I really wanted to draft the foil rare Big Barda that I saw, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. She could have been a great addition instead of Two-Face’s Coin. I just couldn’t take her. If you watch the draft video, I think it shows where I almost take her, but I chose a different card. I didn’t think it would be fair to the other players to take a card I knew I wouldn’t need for my collection even though I fully intended on using her for my draft team. Even though she would have been better for my team, she wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the one match I lost.

I will sometimes draft for my collection (rare/foil-drafting) and sometimes I draft to win. I don’t have any issues with other players rare-drafting or foil-drafting, even if that’s what I’m doing in the same pod. In this particular draft, I wanted to win because there were additional packs as prizes and I wanted to win some of those!

The feedback I got from all the players in our draft was that they love the set for all levels of play and they all had a lot of fun drafting. I can easily echo their feedback. I’m really digging this set and I can’t wait to draft it more!

How do you draft – Aggro, Control, etc?
Do you like to draft to win, or draft to collect?
Leave me a comment here or on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

You can find videos from this event and many other events on myYouTube channel.

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Great Responsibility: Basic Action Card from the Marvel Amazing Spider-Man Starter set. This week’s selection is courtesy of the random button from DM Retrobox.

Ruling – Ability

When you use a Great Responsibility action die, you must also sacrifice a character in order to KO a target opposing character. Sacrificing one of your characters is not optional and the sacrificed character is not being targeted. The opposing character is being targeted, so abilities that redirect or block targeting could be applied.

When you sacrifice a character (or any other die) during your turn, the sacrificed die will go Out of Play until the Clean Up Step. During the Clean Up Step, all dice that are Out of Play will be moved into the Used Pile. When you sacrifice a die during your opponent’s turn, those dice will go directly to the Used Pile.

Great Responsibility can only be used during your turn, but there are several cards with abilities that allow or force you to sacrifice dice during your opponent’s turn. For example, if you have a Blink: Dimension Jumper die in the Field Zone, you could use her ability during your opponent’s turn and she would go to your Used Pile instead of Out of Play. Using Mysterious Shredder Transport would send the opposing die to the Used Pile and the active player’s die Out of Play.

When a character with a When KO’d ability is KO’d by using Great Responsibility, the When KO’d ability will trigger. For example, if Jade: Jennifer-Lynn Hayden is KO’d by Great Responsibility, her owner would get to use her ability allowing them to prep a die from their bag.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Great Responsibility is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ It has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #29 of 142.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Great Responsibility during the Main Step.

~ I have a Great Responsibility die showing an action face in my Reserve Pool. I have a Sidekick and a level two Vixen die in the Field Zone. My opponent has a Thor die in the Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) I use my Great Responsibility die, sacrificing my Sidekick and targeting Thor. My Sidekick die and Great Responsibility are placed Out of Play. Thor is placed in the Prep Area.

Example Two:Using Great Responsibility during the Attack Step.

~ I have a Great Responsibility die showing an action face in my Reserve Pool. I have a Sidekick and a level two Vixen die in the Field Zone. My opponent has a Thor die in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my Sidekick and Vixen dice to attack, moving them into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns their Thor die to block my Vixen die, moving it into the Attack Zone and placing it in front of my Vixen die.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I use my Great Responsibility die, sacrificing my Sidekick and targeting my opponent’s Thor die. My Sidekick and Great Responsibility are placed Out of Play and Thor is placed in the Prep Area.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) Vixen was blocked, but does not have Overcrush. She will not deal any damage to my opponent, even though her blocker has been removed. She won’t take any damage and will return to the Field Zone.
~ (Clean Up Step) All effects end unless otherwise stated. Dice Out of Play are moved into the Used Pile.

Opinion and Strategy

I’m not a fan of this week’s card selection. There are better ways to achieve the same result – or a more desirable result. A good example is Mysterious Shredder Transport. Transport works a little different, like you don’t get to target an opposing die, but the die they sacrifice is sacrificed – not KO’d. In a constructed field of play, whether competitive or casual, you’re typically trying to KO your opponent and not their characters. Most of the time, players use characters that have a When KO’d ability or ones that can’t be targeted (all the rage now). It’s also cheaper to purchase than Great Responsibility. I feel like Great Responsibility is too expensive for what it does. If I’m paying five energy for a die that I have cycle and then roll, I don’t want to pay an additional cost (like sacrificing a character) just to get one of their dudes out of the Field. If you’re looking at Great Responsibility for Modern Age, please take a closer look at cards like Mysterious Shredder Transport or even Lethal Blow. I think Lethal Blow is underrated – especially since we have Renet Tilley now to almost guarantee that burst or double burst. I don’t expect that combo to be seen in a competitive setting, but Transport could find it’s way there. Reclaim would pair well with Transport and be way more useful than Great Responsibility.

If you’ve played Great Responsibility and you’ve found a use that I’ve overlooked, please share! I enjoy seeing what other folks come up with – whether it’s casual or competitive, I’m open to all suggestions!

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Ready to Rocket!: Basic Action Card from the Marvel Age of Ultron Starter set.

Ruling – Ability

Ready to Rocket! is a Basic Action Card. When a player uses a Ready to Rocket! Action die, a target character die will get +2A until the end of the turn.

When this Action die is used, it will be placed Out of Play until the Clean Up Step where it will then be moved to the Used Pile.

You can target one of your character dice or one of your opponent’s character dice with a Ready to Rocket! action die.

Ruling – Teamwork

When a player uses Ready to Rocket! on a character with an affiliation, they must also use the Teamwork ability if there is another character die of the same affiliation active. This is not an optional ability if there are active character dice with the same affiliation as the initial target.

Similar to the first part of this card’s ability, you can target one of your character dice or one of your opponent’s character dice, so long as it shares an affiliation with the initial target.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Ready to Rocket! is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have an affiliation.
~ It has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #32 of 126.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Ready to Rocket! during the Main Step.

~ I have a Ready to Rocket! die showing an action face in my Reserve Pool. I have two Villain character dice and an Avenger character die in my Field Zone.
~ (Main Step) I use Ready to Rocket! and target one of my Villain dice, giving it +2A. There is another Villain active, which means I must use the Teamwork ability on Ready to Rocket! and give the other Villain +2A as well. The Ready to Rocket! die is place Out of Play.

Example Two:Using Ready to Rocket! during the Attack Step.

~ I have a Ready to Rocket! die showing an action face in my Reserve Pool. I have two Villain character dice and an Avenger character die in my Field Zone. My opponent has a Villain character die in their Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my three character dice to attack, moving them into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns their Villain to block my Avenger affiliated die, moving it into the Attack Zone and placing it in front of my Avenger affiliated die.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I use my Ready to Rocket! die, targeting one of my Villain affiliated dice. There are other Villains active, so I can choose which of the two other Villains to give the +2A from Teamwork to. I choose to give my other Villain character die the +2A. The Ready to Rocket! action die is placed Out of Play.

Official Sources

Opinion and Strategy

Well, I didn’t have any requests or rules questions this week, so I hit the random buttons on DM Retrobox. Much to my surprise, the random character was a Rocket Raccoon and Ready to Rocket! was the Basic Action. Seems fitting since Ready to Rocket! is in the Marvel Free Comic Book Day starter, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is about to hit theaters. It was like fate reached out and said – THIS ONE! The Rocket Raccoon was not a good choice for a CCW article, because there wasn’t any text to cover.

Even though the fates directed my random selection this week, they didn’t choose a card that I like. It’s got cute artwork and I’m getting a promo this weekend, but as for being a card I’d play – it’s not. I love to play affiliation teams, but most of the time, those teams need other BACs to help them along. And as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I don’t like using cards that could benefit my opponent. You always have the option of not using an action die, or not fielding a character, but why would I want to waste a die – even in a casual game. I hate wasting dice more than potentially helping my opponent. There are times where buffing an opposing character’s attack might be useful, like to KO one of your characters with a large defense that also has a KO ability, but there are easier ways to that. That’s especially true for Golden Age, which is the only format Ready to Rocket! is legal in.

As you can see in the picture above, the promos are numbered the same as the original from Age of Ultron – meaning these Ready to Rocket! promos are not legal for Modern Age. I don’t see myself playing a lot of Golden Age, but if I put my Guardians of the Galaxy team back together, this card might be kind of useful since I’ll have access to Blue-Eyes as a cost reducer in Golden Age and not need to use Big Entrance.

I don’t mind that WizKids has chosen a Golden Age card as a FCBD promo. I think that’s a good move; showing that they’re still giving some love to Golden Age cards. I hope that WizKids eventually expands their tournament options to Golden Age like they have with the Rainbow Drafts. That would make some of these Golden Age promos a little more desirable.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!

Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell Box set.

Ruling – Ability

Nefarious Broadcast is a Basic Action. If a card ability would affect an Action Die, Nefarious Broadcast could be chosen for the effect. One such example is Constantine: Antihero.

When you use a Nefarious Broadcast action die, it will cancel any Global effect that is currently still in effect and prevent the use of any Global ability after its use. Global abilities that have a lingering active effect are the only ones that will be affected by Nefarious Broadcast. Examples include the Globals on Transfer Power and Bane.

Certain Globals that are used before Nefarious Broadcast will not be reversed by its use. This is because the effect is not an ongoing or active effect. Examples include the Globals on Professor X and Unstable Canister.

As soon as a player uses Nefarious Broadcast, neither player will be able to use any Global abilities until the next turn.

Nefarious Broadcast can be used in the Main Step or during the Actions and Globals portion of the Attack Step.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Nefarious Braodcast is a Basic Action Card with no energy type.
~ It does not have any affiliations.
~ It has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #54 of 58.

If you purchase either of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Box Sets, you will have one copy of each card in the entire set, as well as the maximum number of dice for each card.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Nefarious Broadcast during your Main Step.

~ I have a Nefarious Broadcast die in my Reserve Pool and a Sidekick in my Field Zone. My opponent has one Fist energy in their Reserve Pool.
~ (Main Step) After completing all the game actions I want to do at this time in the Main Step, I pass priority to my opponent so that they can use Global Abilities. They spend their Fist energy to use the Global on Bane. They target my Sidekick with the Global, which will make my Sidekick attack this turn.
~ (Main Step) My opponent passes priority back to me and I use my Nefarious Broadcast die. This will remove the active effect from Bane’s Global that would force my Sidekick to attack. My Sidekick no longer has to attack. Neither player can play Globals until the next turn.

Example Two:
Using Nefarious Broadcast during your Attack Step.

~ I have a Nefarious Broadcast die and two Fist energy in my Reserve Pool. I also have a Sidekick in my Field Zone. My opponent has one Fist energy in their Reserve Pool.
~ (Main Step) After completing all the game actions I want to do at this time in the Main Step, I pass priority to my opponent so that they can use Global Abilities. They spend their Fist energy to use the Global on Bane. They target my Sidekick with the Global, which will make my Sidekick attack this turn. My opponent passes priority back to me, and I decline to do any further game actions in the Main Step.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I must assign my Sidekick as an attacker. I move my Sidekick die into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent doesn’t have any characters to assign as blockers.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I am able to use Action Dice and Globals at this time. I decide to use my Nefarious Broadcast die (sending it Out of Play). This removes all active effects of Globals, but there currently aren’t any. Neither player can use Globals until the next turn. I was saving my two Fist energy for the Global on Anger Issues, but now I can’t use it.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) My Sidekick will deal one damage to my opponent. My Sidekick is moved Out of Play.
~ (Clean Up) All dice Out of Play are moved to the Used Pile. All effects end unless otherwise stated.

Official Sources

Ratings

You can find a guide to my ratings, here.
These are personal opinion of the card being showcased and not an official reflection of current major meta.

Golden Age Rating

Nefarious Broadcast is definitely not a plug-and-play type of card. It needs a team built specifically around not using Globals, or using a minimal amount of Globals. You also need to time the use of this die just right or you could make some serious misplays. I think I might be a little generous with the rogue rating in Golden Age, but I bet there are enough talented pilots out there that they may be able to find a way to make this card useful in format dominated by Globals.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Modern Age Rating

Modern Age isn’t as Global heavy as Golden Age, but it has its fair share of decent Globals. Nefarious Broadcast still needs to have a team built around it to be most effective. I think Nefarious Broadcast will see more use in Modern Age than Golden Age, but because of its need for a particular team build, it’s still just a rogue card.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Prime Rating

Prime’s lack of dominating Globals leaves Nefarious Broadcast in the collector box for me. There are definitely good Globals, but none that would warrant putting Nefarious Broadcast on your team instead of another critical BAC. I’ve stopped using Oracle: Master Investigator in Prime, because she’s not that useful in this format. I don’t think Global-hate is very useful at this particular time in Prime.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of one out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

I think this card is a little more confusing than it needs to be. I’m not sure if it’s because folks are overthinking how it works or if WizKids needs to clarify the wording a little more. Trying to explain Globals to a new player can be challenging in itself, and then when you throw in the active effects and instant effects, it could leave their head spinning. But once a player has a better understanding of the game, I don’t think this card would be a big issue. I wouldn’t recommend a beginner use this card, but players at the advanced skill level and higher shouldn’t have too much trouble with understanding this card. This card is a great teaching tool to teach players about active effects and instant effects.

Nefarious Broadcast: Basic Action Card gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Opinions on this card? Leave a comment!
Is there a card your confused on? Is there a combo that seems too good to be true? Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

WizKids has decided to make starters an annual release instead of releasing them with each gravity feed (I can’t tell you how happy my wallet is right now!). I feel like this is a really good move on their part because it makes it easier to format a rotation and also makes it easier and more affordable for new players to enter into the game. To my understanding, Marvel and DC will each have an annual starter release.

Rulebook

Standard rulebook, but it does not detail the first turn rule change. WizKids had already announced that the earliest rulebook to detail that change would be the DC Superman/Wonder Woman starter rulebook.

Rules Reminder Card

The rules reminder card is a great quick reference tool for all the affiliations and keywords in the set.

The back of the rules reminder card has a bump for tournaments, which is a great promo piece.

Keywords

There are several returning keywords in this set, as well as a new one.

Suit Up – NAMESuit Up is a new keyword ability in this starter. Each character with Suit Up has the name of another character or characters directly after it. When you purchase a character die with Suit Up, you may KO the named die in order to field the Suit Up die at level two.

Suit Up can only happen when you purchase the Suit Up character die. It replaces the location of where the purchased die will go. If you purchase the die and place it into your Used Pile and continue with your turn, you will not be able to back up to use Suit Up.

I really like Suit Up because it lets you field that character die at level two, even though you have to KO another (specific) character to do it. This ability can be particularly useful with characters that have a When Fielded or When KO’d ability, like Pepper Potts: Stark International for Rescue’s Suit Up.

WizKids has a comprehensive list of Keywords on their site. You can also find expanded descriptions for all the keywords on The Reserve Pool‘s site.

Affiliations

Characters

So… I like all three of Howard Stark’s cards. I can think of several teams that each one could find a home on. Brilliant is definitely going to find a home on my casual version of Hugs that I played at the WKO. I can easily take La Jinn off the casual team build and put Howard Stark in his place. I guess Iron Will is a good benefit too, I just haven’t seen it used much. I love Expert Businessman for any of my Overcrush teams (and I have several). Father is great for any Sidekick/Ally based team because he can’t be the target of Globals on his burst side. They’re all fairly good in their own way and I’m sure folks can find at least one of these that they like. I want to throw a reminder out there for sacrifice – A sacrificed character will go to the Used Pile and not the Prep Area. I’m sure folks can find a way to use this to their advantage, but it’s something to keep in mind when playing Brilliant or Expert Businessman. They also require that you do it at the start of you turn, which is a specific timing and reduces the amount of shenanigans, but they’re still really good cards. Howard Stark could also find a place on a S.H.I.E.L.D. team. His costs are low and he’s a Mask character too. There are plenty of uses for Mask energy, even in Prime.

Rocket Powered Punches is really the only one of the Hulkbuster Iron Man cards that I like. I’m sure there are plenty of folks that like Model 36 for his ability to barrel through those cost six or higher characters, and Bustin’ Makes Me Feel Good’s ability to gain life from KO’ing a six or higher cost character die, but those are not my style. I prefer to Suit Up a cheap Iron Man into Rocket Powered Punches. It could really throw off your opponent’s game if they aren’t expecting it! I don’t think these cards are going to see much play in unlimited, but depending on the pilot, we might see some make an appearance into Prime.

Celestial Slayer is definitely my favorite of the three because it’s got the ability and Global of the other two versions in one card, but it rightfully cost one more to purchase. If you like just the ability or just the Global, you could get one of the other two for one less on the purchase cost. To use the Global, you don’t really need to purchase the die, so what would hurt to use Celestial Slayer instead of Earth X? I love cost reducers of all kinds, and the fielding cost on some of the Stark Industries dudes are kinda high. Spinning one dude down to decrease that fielding cost could be the difference between some wasted energy and being able to buy a cheaper dude. One energy can make a difference. I’m a little excited for future Marvel sets to see what new Stark Industries characters we get! You could definitely build a solid, casual Stark Industries team just form this starter, but the prospect of improvements is always exciting.

I like Version 2.0 because he’s a cheap Stark Industries character. Waldoes is too, but I’m not sure his Suit Up is all that useful. Spider-Man: “Public Menace!” is the only Spider-Man I can think of to use with Iron Spider: Waldoes. You could always use Iron Spider for itself. I’m not sure I like Waldoes at all. Hopefully we’ll end up with a better Spider-Man in the future that we could pair with him. For a Stark Industries team, I’d much rather use Version 2.0 though. Too Cool For Words, not Iceman, looks fun but he may be a little harder to maneuver as a four cost on a Stark Industries team. If there were other two or three cost Stark Industries characters, other than Rescue, I would definitely consider Too Cool For Words instead of Version 2.0. All of these Stark Industries characters make me excited to try this theme team out! Worth noting, Iron Spider is the name of this card, but the one in the Amazing Spider-Man set is Iron Spidey. That means you could use both, but Iron Spidey will not work for Suit Up.

Oh my! An Avengers Ally!!! This could be rather useful. I really like all of Jarvis’s cards, but Chief of Staff is probably my favorite, even with a purchase cost of five. I think he needed to be expensive though, because it’s not too hard to field a bunch of zero-low fielding cost characters and then drag the game out because you just gained a bazillion life. I’m glad his purchase cost is five, and it doesn’t mean he isn’t viable in certain formats, just that he’s got the right cost for his ability. I really like that Butler has that Global that we saw on Iron Manor, but if you’re using Jarvis with Avengers, it’s not going to be all that useful. I guess that’s why he has that direct damage ability on him that does ability damage to a character die equal to the number of character dice you fielded that turn – and it counts Jarvis, so you’re doing at least one damage. I think I like Loyal Confidant and Chief of Staff equally. It just depends on the team, really.

Mark 1616 is perfect if you need a cheap Stark Industries character, but she only has a max dice of two. Resilient and Catching a Jet are both awesome for using their Suit Up abilities with their other card abilities. You purchase a Rescue, KO a Rescue in the Field Zone (sending it to the Prep Area), and then field the purchased Rescue at level two. Next turn, I get to roll that Rescue that I just KO’d and hopefully get to use her other ability. I really like Resilient more than Catching a Jet, but they each have their place. I would likely use Resilient on Stark Industries team, or almost any Prime team. Her ability works whether she’s active or not… How good is that?! It’s similar to Rescue: Stark’s Equal from the Civil War set, just hurting and not healing. Too bad you can’t use both on one team.

Model 5 is a cheaper Suit Up character with the Stark Industries affiliation. No other frills, just Suit Up. He’s okay, but I like Deep Space and #14-C much more! I can’t decide which one I like better. I guess Deep Space would be my pick if I didn’t want to add a six cost character to my team, and he’s got some potential for life gain. #14-C has that possible KO avoidance and Overcrush on two sides.Such tough decisions with Space Armor Iron Man!!! I like two too many!

And yet another dilemma. I like all three of War Machine’s cards. I like Model II because he’s the cheapest and has Fast. I like “Rhodey” because he also has Fast, he has the additional ability to do direct damage to my opponent if he KO’s a character with combat damage, and he only costs one more to purchase. There are plenty of ways to boost an attack stat in Dice Masters, making this guy pretty good. I’d likely pick him over Model II, unless I just couldn’t put a four cost character on my team… But honestly – I usually have room for four cost characters. I also really like JRXL-1000, and not for his Suit Up. He’s Fast, and Sidekicks can’t block his level one side. You can always boost that attack stat to do more damage, and he only costs four to purchase.

Character Thoughts

I like lots of these characters, especially for a more casual setting. I think these are great characters for a new player to start with and build off of. There are lots of fun gimmicks and different types of abilities that make the game interesting. I think any player could enjoy building and using a Stark Industries team for any fun local event.

On the more competitive end, I think one or two characters might squeak into the unlimited and Prime formats, but overall, not many are going to find a place in the most competitive metas at this time.

I would still recommend purchasing at least one of these starters for some fun characters to build teams with. For a new player, I definitely recommend the starter for the characters, or even two starters for the max dice.

Basic Action Cards

This starter has some really interesting Basic Action Cards that are new to the starter, and it has some revamps of older Basic Actions Cards. If the characters weren’t enough to prove this starter is worth buying, hopefully these Actions will!

I’m not a fan of this card. Suit Up is too new and there are only ten cards with the keyword. I guess if you were playing in a semi-limited type format where players were supposed to use Iron Man and War Machine cards, then I could see someone possibly using it. This card is likely not going to be in the unlimited major meta or even Prime, unless Rescue finds a place, which I doubt too. One thing that I do like about this card is that it causes loss of life and not damage. That’s typically a big deal because you can’t effectively redirect or avoid it. Life loss is a mechanic you would need life gain to overcome.

Cone of Cold from Battle for Faerûn has been revamped! It needed it too. They updated the wording and for those that didn’t want Dungeons and Dragons Dice Masters, they now have access to this BAC. It’s a great way to spread the damage around, but if your opponent only has one character die and you have two, your dice are getting blasted too – unless that’s what you want. I like that both Cone of Cold cards say that you can’t use that action if there aren’t at least three character dice in the Field Zone. I like that Global for teams that use a force block ability as well. Overall, I like this card for both the Action and the Global. The revamping of the wording makes it much easier for newer players to understand.

Wow! What?! This card is so crazy. This Action Die hangs out in the Field Zone and slowly depletes each player’s life if they don’t attack. Hypervelocity causes loss of life and not damage, which is a great way to get damage across with minimal resistance. You have to keep an aggressive streak or you’ll start to lose life as well! It looks like action removal is going to be a major addition to many teams, because unless this is on one of the two burst sides, it’s not leaving! There isn’t a ton of action hate in Prime – if any… so watch out for this in Prime. Folks may be adding some life gain cards to their team to help balance that loss of life.

Here is yet another great direct damage card. This card is ability damage and not loss of life, so any abilities to reduce, alter, redirect, etc are viable for folks to use against this ability. I still really like this card for some of the Prime Storm: Extra Lightning teams floating around. It’s not a huge deal if your opponent doesn’t field many characters because it’s still going to do a minimum of two damage. It’s a little expensive to purchase against a team that doesn’t look like it’s going to be putting dudes in the Field Zone though.

Here we have a revamp of Smash! from AvX. They have updated the wording on this card as well. I love seeing these older BACs being revamped. This makes them available for Prime, and also more easily accessible for new players. I’m not big on using Smash! for the action, but the Global is great against Overcrush. If Turtle Van isn’t your style, you can always go for Smash! if Overcrush is a problem you’re running into.

This is a revamp of Surprise Attack from Age of Ultron. This is another card with updated wording that definitely reads better than it’s AoU version. I haven’t used this card a lot in the past (if at all…), and I guess this is an okay BAC, but there are definitely better ones out there. I’m still not a fan of this particular card, but even so, glad they revamped it for newer players!

Upgrade BACs

The last four BACs in the starter are all called Upgrades and each have a specialization. They all cost two energy and they each have a risk/reward for using them on specific energy type characters. I like this idea a lot and I can’t wait to try some of these on some Prime teams! These also make for great limited additions when you can’t decide what to use and you don’t want to bring Power Bolt because your opponent may want to buy it too. I also really like that they called them all Upgrade – Specialization. That leaves room for them to make different BACs that have a name like Smokescreen that’s different from Upgrade – Smokescreen.

Upgrade – Fortification
The name sounds stout and sturdy, like a character with Iron Will. When you use this action, your character will gain Iron Will. The risk to doing this is that you will lose two life if that character is not a Shield energy type. It’s a risk vs reward type of card, so if you want your Gorilla Grodd to have Iron Will, it’ll cost you two life. And since it’s loss of life, you can’t get around it as easily without life gain. I like this Upgrade because you don’t typically see Iron Will on any team. There are several characters with Iron Will, but they just aren’t worth playing in a competitive meta. I think this Basic Action may make Iron Will a more usable keyword.

Upgrade – Proton Cannon
Wow, that sounds like it could shoot thru anything, like a character with Overcrush. This Upgrade will give one of your characters Overcrush, but if they aren’t a Fist type character, they get KO’d at the end of the turn. This is another risk vs reward, but for certain teams, that risk may actually be the reward. I think Lady Bullseye: Attack on Two Fronts just got a a Proton Cannon attached to her.

Upgrade – Smokescreen
This Upgrade sounds like something a ninja would use to sneak away or sneak around a bunch of folks. When you use Smokescreen on a character die, that die gets +1A. If it’s a Mask type character die, it can’t be blocked. So there isn’t a risk on this Upgrade because you get the +1A no matter what. You benefit more if it’s a Mask type character die that you use it on. I can think of a few Mask type characters that would great to pair this with.

Upgrade – Unibeam
And lastly, the Unibeam. It sounds like something a character would use on a more focused attack, maybe to take someone out before they had a chance to do anything to them. When you use Unibeam on a character die, it gets +2A – not too shabby for a two cost action. But if that character die is a Bolt type, it gains the Fast keyword. That sounds about right for a Unibeam! So like Smokescreen, no real risk, just an even better reward for using it with a Bolt type character die.

BAC Overview

There are quite a few new BACs that I really like, mainly the Upgrades, but a few others too. I like the assortment of abilities on the BACs, and I’m really digging the increased use of loss of life instead of just throwing damage in there. With the increase in abilities that use loss of life or paying life mechanics, we might actually see an increase in the use of cards that have life gain. Hypervelocity is definitely my favorite of all the Basic Action Cards and I can’t wait to start building around it!

Dice Bags

I most definitely like the artwork bags more than the plain colored bags. I like to collect these bags too.

Starter Dice

Sidekick and Action Dice

You get a pretty standard assortment of Sidekick Dice and Action Dice.

Character Dice

You only get two of each character die in the starter. If you’re wanting to put three or four dice on a particular character, you will need to buy a second starter (or trade, exchange, etc.). It’s never a bad thing to have duplicates of the character cards and BACs.

Final Thoughts

The only negative thing I have to discuss about the starter is the number of character dice. I’m not sure if WizKids is entertaining other options or not, but I would like to see this changed in the future. I would be okay with certain characters only having a max dice of two while most of them have a max dice of four, and then changing the packaging to accommodate the extra dice. The TMNT characters have a max dice of three… but a box big enough to hold more than four of each. I’d pay five more dollars just to get max dice with my characters. If Mr. DDK and I both want to use Howard Stark with max dice, we will have to buy four starters… Maybe releasing the starters in the big box format, like the TMNT boxes, would be a solution to the max dice issue because they would have plenty of room for the dice. They could keep a lot of the characters as a max dice of four, and reduce some of the more expensive characters to max of two and put the max dice for each character in the box. I have never found a moment that I wished I had three Splinter, Shredder, or Krang dice… they could have easily been a max of two to allow for a fourth die on the cheaper dudes, like the Foot Ninjas. Maybe this is something WizKids can look into doing? I’d rather buy two big box releases, like TMNT, than four starters to accommodate two players.

I really do like the starter contents though. I like how fun and easy the characters are to use and understand. I love the new and revamped BACs. I really hope they continue to make different ‘Upgrade’ styled cards for BACs. Those fit very thematically in the starter and all of them have fun and interesting abilities, especially for a draft team! I love the idea of a Stark Industries themed team and can’t wait to build it and play it – after I buy a second starter for the additional dice I need. I like the Suit Up ability too, but I hope they continue it and add more of the needed characters with abilities that will have better synergy. It’s still a fun and unique ability to play around with and I plan to use Rescue and her Suit Up in my Stark Industries team.

This is a great starting place for a new player. You can add a Team Pack to the starter and roll with it!

What are your favorite cards?
What cards do you think will make it into the unlimited or Prime metas?
Leave me a comment here or message me on Facebook at Dice Dice Kitty and thanks for reading!

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at the Renet Tilley: 79th Dimension of Null-Time from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell box set.

Ruling – Ability

Renet Tilley has a While Active ability. A While Active ability is one that works regardless of how many of the character’s dice are in the Field Zone. While Active abilities are like a light – it’s either on, or it’s off.

Renet Tilley’s ability lets you spin an action die that’s on an action face to any other side, but only right after you complete your Roll and Reroll Step and before you begin your Main Step. The action die must be on a non-energy face for you to be able to use her ability for that die. You can spin the die to any energy face or any action face.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ Renet Tilley is a Bolt Character.
~ She does not have an affiliation.
~ She has a max dice of three.
~ This card is a Common and is #35 of 58.

If you purchase either of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Box Sets, you will have one copy of each card in the entire set, as well as the maximum number of dice for each card.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
Using Renet Tilley for one Action Die.

~ I have one level one Renet Tilley in the Field Zone.
~ (Clear and Draw Step) I draw four dice from my bag. I draw two Captain Cold’s Cold Gun action dice and two Sidekick dice.
~ (Roll and Reroll Step) I roll my four dice and they land on two Wild energy, one Cold Gun on an action face with no bursts, and one Cold Gun showing its single generic energy side. I choose to reroll the Cold Gun on the energy face and it lands on the same single generic energy face.
~ (Roll and Reroll Step) If I want to use Renet Tilley, I must do so now before I begin my Main Step. I choose to spin my Cold Gun on the action face to an energy face with the Bolt and Fist energy. I could have used her ability to spin it to an action face with bursts or even the single energy face, but I want the Bolt/Fist energy this turn instead.
~ (Main Step) I now begin my main step.

Official Sources

Unlimited Competitive Play Rating

I could see her being a useful rogue level card. There are not many action cards that benefit from a burst ability in the unlimited meta, but Cold Gun is definitely the biggest one. She can be useful in getting energy from a die that rolled an action face that you didn’t want an action for in that particular turn. In an unlimited setting, she is a good card, but I don’t think she’s that good to make a huge splash in the major meta. There are too many ways to get rid of her – easily. Her defense stats make her an easy target for the Magic Missile/Unstable Canister burn Global (or even the action ability). I think the most useful spot she can find is on a Bolt Ring team variant. She can spin those Kryptonite action faces over to bolt faces to help boost your damage. She does make for an easy DWiz distraction if your opponent is worried about you benefiting too much from her ability which could keep some of your other major pieces safe from the DWiz. But overall, I don’t think she’ll be as useful as some players have thought, and mainly because I think some folks have misread her ability. She doesn’t spin energy faces to action faces, which definitely would have made her over powered.

Renet Tilley: 79th Dimension of Null-Time gets a rating of three out of five stars.

Prime Play Rating

As far as Prime goes, the limited ramp and churn options make Renet Tilley a little more valuable. You don’t have to worry about a whiffed energy roll on an action die, or you could easily spin that Momentum to it’s double burst from its other action face. I think we’ll see her a lot more in Prime than unlimited. There are definitely less threats out there for direct removal in Prime too. A Cold Gun would KO her on any side because of her low defense, so she makes for a great no-burst Cold Gun target. I really like this card for Prime and I think we’ll see a lot of her in this format.

Renet Tilley: 79th Dimension of Null-Time gets a Prime rating of four out of five stars.

Casual Play Rating

I love how easy this card is to understand for a new player. The ability is worded well and there isn’t a lot of room for confusion. This is one of the many awesome cards in the newest TMNT box. That box is truly a comprehensive box of goodness and I will be recommending it to every new player! I’m really happy that the characters in this box are easy for beginners to understand and use, including this Renet Tilley. A new player will benefit from using this character because she’s not one that they would want to attack with, teaching newer players about the benefit of leaving your character active instead of attacking. I definitely recommend this card and the Heroes in a Half Shell box set for every player out there!

Renet Tilley: 79th Dimension of Null-Time gets a casual play rating of five out of five stars.

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